A Shanghai Jiao Tong University professor published a study in an internationally recognized science journal that found a direct link between a kind of intestinal bacterium and obesity in humans, according to a report from the Xinhua News Agency.

It marks the first time a scientist has shown a causal relationship between the two, according to the report.

Zhao Liping, deputy dean of the School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and his research team got their study published in the December 13 issue of The ISME Journal, a journal of microbial ecology.

Zhao found out that a particular kind of intestinal bacteria called enterobacter cloacae could cause obesity because its extracted endotoxin activates a gene that helps generate fat and deactivates a gene that causes fat to be consumed, according to the report.